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Category: Tangible Media

One person crouching to record information at the base of the stacks.

Reflections of a Librarian-in-Residence in Preservation

Posted by: Bobbi Hinton

The following is a guest post by Lauren Quackenbush, Librarian-in-Residence, Preservation Division. The Librarian-in-Residence (LIR) program was created in 2018 for newly graduated librarian students to gain invaluable experience at the Library of Congress. LIRs are assigned throughout the Library, this year’s 2023 cohort consisted of 5 recent graduates. As the LIR in Preservation, I …

Close-up view of two hands carefully at work on an aged, yellowing manuscript with handwriting

Preservation Intern Profile: Gabrielle Alongi

Posted by: Aaron D. Chaletzky

This is a joint post by Aaron Chaletzky and Gabrielle Alongi. This past June, the Preservation Services Division (PSD) took on a new Preservation Intern: Gabrielle Alongi. Gabrielle is currently enrolled in the Information Sciences program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She comes to PSD with an interest in digital library and management work, …

Copying selected files onto an external hard drive. Photo credit: Amanda May

Portable and Complex – Preserving Born-Digital Data on Laptops

Posted by: Aaron D. Chaletzky

This is a guest post written by Amanda May, Digital Projects Specialist in the Preservation Services Division. Her work includes managing digital files for the division, recovering data from removable media in Library collections, and providing consultation and services for born-digital collections data. Born-digital preservation work most often begins with a physical object – a …

Close-up view of two hands carefully at work on an aged, yellowing manuscript with handwriting

Software for Born-Digital Preservation

Posted by: Aaron D. Chaletzky

The Preservation Services Division uses a wide array of specialized software in order to preserve born-digital collections, most of which originally arrived at the Library of Congress on external media such as floppy disks, optical disks, and hard drives. By using this software, staff are able to find and preserve millions of files that are otherwise trapped on older media.